The First of Me
by A. N. Mouse
Summary: During 5th year, Draco Malfoy just has to get away from Hogwarts and goes to a Muggle village. Where he meets a girl named Willow, who also wants to get away from her problems. Draco and OC. Rated T because I don't know what will happen yet.
1. Chapter 1

**[A/N: This is my first ever posted fanfic, so, whoo-hoo for me. Malfoy and OC named Willow. Read, Rate and Review please! Please, please don't flame, it's not nice, and I wouldn't ever do it to you.**

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is not mine. JKR is brilliant and I would never try to steal her things.]**

The First of Me

Draco Malfoy needed a break. A break from everything that had been going on lately. His father was . . . well, his father, and his mother was more oblivious than ever, even Potter and his friends were becoming unbearable. He couldn't take it anymore. That's when he decided to sneak out of Hogwarts for the weekend. No one would notice, he reasoned. He wasn't really one of the "popular" kids. Sure, he made people laugh, but was that enough? No. It never had been. These people weren't his friends. They didn't know anything about him. He needed to get away. Really away. Away from magic, Hogwarts and his "obligations."  
After dinner on Friday, he just left, he walked out the front doors and across the lawns, lurking in the shadows and hoping he wasn't seen. At the front gate, he hid behind a tree and waited. Ten minutes later, he heard it. The telltale click of hooves that indicated a horse pulling up. A carriage, he thought. Someone was coming to the school, the normal, official way. Maybe Muggles, maybe not, Draco really didn't care, they were his way out.

As the carriage pulled in, he ducked behind it, using it as cover so as to slip out of the gate and into the trees on the other side. He hid behind a large fir and when no one yelled, he knew he was safe. He was out. He headed down the path, and when it forked, he stopped.

The right fork went to Hogsmeade, the left, to a Muggle village. He started off down the road to Hogsmeade, but then he turned back. If he went there, it was way more likely that he'd be seen and caught. But he didn't want to go to the Muggle village. He'd never been around Muggles in his life! He hadn't taken Muggle Studies or any type of pre-Hogwarts Muggle education. What if he did something to give himself away?

Ah, what the heck, he thought, and took the left one, to the Muggle village. He'd never taken this path before, he doubted any Hogwarts student had. Why go to a Muggle town when the oh so interesting Hogsmeade was right here?

There was a little cafe on the outskirts of town, Maggie's Place, according to the sign over the door. Draco walked in and took a seat at the corner table. He ordered a hot chocolate, to be polite, and put his head in his hands, his elbows on the table. He just sat there, even when his hot chocolate came. Just sat.

Willow was sixteen. Carefree and over the moon. So what if her younger sister, Jenna, was stealing the spotlight on the school's stage? So what if she had taken Willow's place of pride in the drama club? And so bloody what if all Willow's friends preffered Jenna? She wasn't going to let it bother her, because this was her year. It was supposed to be her year. That was what everyone said: "You're sixteen now, everything's going to be brilliant for you!" Yeah right.  
Now she knew why she'd never believed them. Her sister was stealing all her friends and her spot on the school stage! Her sister had tried out for the school's fall play, and got the lead. Willow didn't even get a walk on part this year! Jenna joined the drama club and now all her friends were drifting away from her to hang out with her sister. The last time she'd called Amy, she'd said she already had plans, with Jenna.  
As Willow walked down the sidewalk, trying to decide what to do with her already empty and lonely Saturday night, she saw the blinking sign above Maggie's Place. It was one of her favorite hangouts, people knew her there. They knew when she needed quiet or someone to talk to, or just a cup of tea. Walking in she scanned the crowd. The regulars were all there, so were a few kids from school, a few couples from the college not too far away, and a strange man in a suit was in the corner His head in his hands, ignoring his drink. He was sitting at her table. That was where she always sat.  
Was nothing sacred? All the other tables were full and not with people she was friends with. She was not going to let this man take away her happiness, even if he was sitting at her table. What options did she have?  
Are you really going to go and sit with him? Her inner voice asked. A stranger? He almost looks, she struggled, looking for the right word, dangerous. Maybe you'd better just go home. Have a normal, boring night? No way. She told herself.

She shook her head a little, brushed her hair out of her face, and walked over to the man at the table. He looked up as she approached and she saw that he wasn't really a man. He was a boy, her age, maybe a bit older. She smiled at him.

"Hi, I'm Willow, whats your name? Would you mind if I sit here? There aren't any other seats." He looked around, and nodded a little.  
"Sure," he said, barely looking at her. "Sit."  
"Okay," Willow looked over at the counter and saw Tina, her mom's best friend and longtime waitress of Maggie's Place, looking at her strangely. She gave Tina a wide smile that said "I know what I'm doing," and turned back to the guy. "What's your name? I've never seen you around here before."  
He looked up at her and scowled, like he really didn't want to be talking right now. He looked down again.  
"Hello? What's your name?" he still wasn't looking at her. She sighed a little and signalled to Tina that she wanted a hot chocolate.

Draco glanced at the girl beside him, she had very long, very straight blond hair that fell to her stomach and a high, sort of breathy voice that made him think of Loony Lovegood. Not good. Why was she sitting here? Sure, there weren't many other seats open, but nobody sat by him of their own accord normally. Least of all without his permission. He may not be popular but he was somewhat feared.  
"You know, I'm not going to leave until you tell me." Draco sighed heavily. She'd only been sitting there for one minute and already Draco wanted her to leave.  
"Please? Come on, it's not like it'll kill you."  
Maybe if I tell her and then I don't say anything else, she'll go away.  
"Draco." he said. Then he grabbed his hot chocolate and took a drink. When he put it down, he didn't look at her.  
"I've never seen you around here before. Did you just move here?" God, she was nosy.  
Draco sighed and looked at the girl, he hoped the look in his eyes said "Get away from me, I'm not a nice guy." But the girl either didn't notice, or maybe she didn't care.  
"I've lived here all my life, and this is a pretty small town, so I think I'd know if I'd seen you before, and I haven't. So that means you haven't been to town before, right?"  
Draco decided that he'd just answer in short, clipped sentences, and maybe his attitude would get her to go away. He didn't have much hope for this plan, but it was the only one he had and he didn't really want to get up and go back to Hogwarts just yet.  
"I go to boarding school."  
"Really? Near here? I go the public school. So, do they have sports teams at your school? Maybe we've play you?"  
"Not really. We're academic." he said. "Not Muggle sports," he said under his breath.  
"What was that?" the girl asked. He ignored her.  
"So, what are you doing here?" her hot chocolate arrived and she took a small sip.  
"Snuck out."  
"Why?"  
"I felt like it."  
"I don't believe you."  
"Fine."  
"Tell me!" she demanded  
"No."  
"Please?" Her tone changed, softer this time.  
"No!" But he could feel himself wavering.  
"Come on, it's not like I'll tell anyone."  
"Fine, you want to know? You really want to know?" he glared at Willow. "I snuck out because I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to get away. I felt like they were all watching me because I'm supposed to become who my father is, supposed to go into the "family business" and they don't approve of that. They don't approve of him, so they get off on judging me. I put on a brave face, a proud face, the face that says "I'm a Malfoy, and I'm proud of that, and don't you dare come near me because if you do I'll squash you like the worthless insect you are." And they believe it. They don't try to see under it. They don't try to see anything but what I show them, because I'm too scared to confront my father and tell him that I hate what he is, that I hate what he does, and I don't want to be a part of it!" he stopped, suddenly aware of how much he'd said, what he'd told this Muggle. This girl he didn't even know.

Willow sat stunned. Whatever she'd expected, this hadn't been it. She could hear the hurt in his voice, could see his pain in his eyes.  
"Well, I" she broke off trying to gather some words of comfort, "I don't really know what to say to that. But I don't think that's fair of them. You aren't your father Sure, he's where you came from, but you can go so many places that have nothing to do with him."  
"That's not even the half of it. My life is so screwed up. At my school, we have Houses, it determines when you have classes and who you have classes with and where you sleep, and all that. My House is rivals with another school house, and there are three kids in that other House that are always trying to get me down, so I have to get them first. You know, I'm really mean to them on sight now, so they can't be mean to me without reason. Because this way I can justify to myself their reactions to me." He paused, his rant slowing down, he sounded less angry and almost sad now. "I'm not even friends with the people in my own House. In my House, you're always competing, always against each other, always trying to do better than everyone else. The closest I have to friends are these two boys who follow me around. They're complete idiots. You're just lucky to live out here, away from everyone and all their stupid prejudices." Willow looked at him sharply, her eyes suddenly narrowed.  
"Excuse me?" the breathy quality was gone from her voice. "Lucky? Me? What you think it's all fun and games 'out here?' Please, you know nothing about me, or this town. From what I've just heard from you this place and your school aren't so different. I'm being overshadowed by my younger sister. I used to be the popular one. I used to have all the friends, somewhere to be every night, people to see, places to go. Now look at me." She gestured violently with her arms. "I've sunk to talking to a stranger so I don't have to be alone at home tonight. I used to be the in the drama club. Two years ago, I got the lead in all the school plays. This year, I didn't even get in, and guess who got the lead? My sister. My younger sister. I call my old friends to see if they want to do anything. Go shopping, practice lines, stuff like that, and they've already got plans. With my sister. Drama club's just like your houses apparently. We compete all the time for the spots in the plays, but we're excluded from everyone else, we're apart from the guys who play rugby and the rest of the school because they can't understand us." She crossed her arms and sat there, a scowl of her own on her face, blinking fast, like she was trying to hold back tears.  
"It's still better than my life. I would love to be ignored. To have nothing to do at night. But no. I'm subjected to - " he paused, seeming to search for a word, "job training" he broke off to scoff, "I don't even want. My dad's boss wants me in with him as well as my dad. He can't come to the school, but he sends me messages through one of the teachers. He can still find me." Willow looked up at Draco sharply. She wasn't sure, but she thought, well, she thought she'd heard. . . fear, in his voice, when he talked about his father's boss. "They want me to be someone else. Someone . . . like them. I'm not even sure if they have emotions anymore, or if they're just doing their jobs."  
They sat for a minute in silence. Then Willow knew what she had to say.

"Don't be that person." her voice was carefully controlled. "Don't be the person your father sees, or the person your enemies see. Be yourself. Be you. Your enemies see only your bad side, and your father, most likely, only your good. But people are not black and white, cut and dried, stuck in their little boxes never to be looked at again. People are a gray area. Never all good and never all bad. Be who you want to be, not what they wish you to be or see you as, just be you." she looked at Draco, right into his stormy grey eyes, to see if he'd gotten the message.  
He smiled at her, a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Thanks." They sat in silence. Sipping their drinks. He stood up pulling a jacket off the back of his seat. "Your sister, she's not better than you. Your sister wasn't the one to sit with a total stranger and listen to him spill his guts, then help him out. Don't worry about other people thinking you're nice either, take your own advice and just be you. And if I were you, I would try getting a couple of new friends. Just being friends with people you're constantly competing with doesn't seem like a good idea. You can consider me your first official non-drama friend, if you like."  
She smiled at him and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I'd like that. So - " she paused and blushed slightly, "Can I get in touch with you again? Do you have a phone? Can I have your number?"  
"Oh, um," he looked a little uncomfortable. "They're not allowed, but I could write to you. I have an owl, her name's Selena, and she can carry letters from me directly to you. Owls are very smart. She'll always find me, the letters will never get lost."  
"Um, I guess I'd like that, too. She sounds amazing. But um, why can't we just use normal post?" Willow looked at Draco questioningly. "Not that it's not a good idea or anything," she said quickly, not wanting to hurt him. "But isn't it a bit, I don't know, strange?"

"Yeah, I guess it is a bit strange." Draco stopped. Here's where he had to start lying outright. Before in this conversation, he just told a sort of veiled truth, but now he had to tell a complete lie, because he couldn't tell her that the postman didn't come to his school because he thought the building was condemned. "But the school's really strict about outside contact during the school year. They only give us letters once a month, and I wanna talk to you more than that. I've been training Selena for a long time, nearly since I got her when I was seven. Now she knows to come back to me, and how to find people by their pictures and general location."

Willow looked at her watch suddenly. "Uh, oh," she said. "I have to go. I was supposed to be home ten minutes ago!" She got up.

"Yeah, I should probably get back too." Draco said, getting up as well. He could tell that Willow was still confused, but she was now too worried about being late to really thing about it.

They got outside and Willow looked over at him. Then, before he knew what had happening, the tall girl pulled him into a hug and whispered in his ear. "I'm glad you're my friend." Then she sprinted away.

Draco smiled as he watched her race away. Then he turned around and started walking in the opposite direction, back to Hogwarts.

END Ch. 1

**Please R&R! Don't be afraid to tell me it sucks. (But you have to have a valid reason. If you say it sucks because the plot is inconceivable or something, I won't believe you.)**


	2. Chapter 2

**I mean to update about once a week, and thanks to my reviewers JolieLang and April93. And you other people who read it, I don't bite, I welcome reviews! They make my day!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. If I did, Sirius would still be alive, and he's not now is he?**

The First of Me

Chapter 2

Draco was still at breakfast, he'd sent off Selena early, hoping that maybe he'd get a reply before breakfast was over, seeing as Willow lived was so close. Now breakfast was starting to end, the last few students trickling out of the great hall, and he was getting close to being late for History of Magic. Not that Binns would notice. That teacher could lecture through anything. He probably didn't even know Draco's name.

Draco looked at his watch. He had five minutes before he absolutely had to leave. So he munched on another piece of toast, and waited.

Four minutes to go.

Three minutes. There was no sign of Selena. Maybe Willow was writing a longer reply than he'd thought was necessary. Maybe she lived farther away than he'd judged. Maybe Selena was hurt.

Willow looked down at her cereal bowl and sighed inaudibly. It had been a week and a half, and she hadn't heard from Draco. She knew she shouldn't really have expected anything to come from that. It was just a chance meeting in a cafe, it's not like he really took it seriously. Right? So why was she waiting for the letter that would never come?

Willow heard a soft tapping sound behind her and turned around. Her heart leapt! There, at the window, was a beautiful silver-grey eagle owl, impatiently tapping on the glass. He hadn't forgotten!

She jumped up and quickly let the owl in fumbling slightly in her excitement.

"Hello, there," she said. "You're Selena, aren't you?"

The owl landed neatly on the breakfast table and held out her leg. Willow didn't even hesitate to untie the letter from her leg, as Selena just sat there. She was so well trained. Even when the scrap of paper was removed, the owl stayed perched by the butter dish.

"Oh, you're waiting for a reply, aren't you? You're a smart bird, you are." Willow sat back down and opened the letter.

_Willow,_

_Hey, I hope this isn't too much of a surprise, but owls are all the rage here. Everyone has one. Selena will wait for you to write a reply, so don't try to shoo her off, or_ _something . . . I don't really think you would do that, but hey, I have to make sure._ _School's school. Potter's getting worse and worse. I see him glance at me, and I can almost feel him thinking "There's Malfoy, his father's son." I feel like I have to_ _be horrible to him, so there's a justification for the way I get treated, and honestly? I hate it._

_Enough with the doom and gloom crap. What about you?_ _How's your life been recently? Is your sister still annoying you? If I were you, I'd find a place where you could go and be all by yourself, without her around. Like a park or_ _something. _

_School work itself is going okay. What about you? Write back,_

_Draco_

Willow, tore a sheet of lined paper from a notebook beside her and grabbing her favourite purple pen, she started writing. Finishing quickly, she tied the letter to Selena's leg, before opening the window again to let her out.

"There you go," she whispered, watching as the bird flew away. "Bring that back to Draco, okay?"

&&*&*&&.

One minute.

There she was! Draco stood up grabbing the letter from Selena's extended leg and gave her the crusts of his last piece of toast. He grabbed his bag, and started walking as fast as he could towards History of Magic, while trying to look unconcerned that he was about to be late.

He skidded into the class just as it started and was in his seat before Binns started talking.

"Hey," Blaise whispered to him, from the next seat. "Where were you?"

"Breakfast." Draco whispered back. "I woke up late."

Blaise didn't look convinced, but Draco raised his eyebrows as if to say "Does it really matter?" and turned to face the front of the class room slipping the letter into his pocket. He'd read it later when there was no Blaise looking over his shoulder.

Forty-five minutes later, Draco had a free period. He ditched Blaise with some trumped up excuse of having to finish an essay that he knew for sure Blaise was already done with, and took off to a normally empty hallway in the castle to read his letter.

_Draco, Hey. It's not too much of a surprise. I love her, she's so beautiful. She's just standing on my kitchen table right now, looking all regal. I didn't try to shoo __off, o yea of little faith.__My school's school too. I guess that never changes. Don't worry about this Potter kid. Just leave him alone, and he'll probably leave you alone. Besides, you__always have me to vent to if it gets too bad. Don't be mean just to be mean. (Or as justification for someone else to be mean.) That way you can get all offended when__they're mean to you. It's win/win!_

_Life's been life. I know, so original. Um, I don't know about my sister. I feel like it's so much easier to deal with her now that I have someone to confide in who won't__go running to her as soon as I'm done talking. __A place to be alone. That sounds like a cool idea, I'll look into it. My school results are good too. (Though when the backstage work for the fall play starts, it'll__probably go downhill.) Write me soon too. Not too soon, I won't have anything to say. Just, sooner than you know, like a week. Okay?_

_Willow._

Draco smiled. He didn't smile easy. He put the letter back in his pocket and headed off toward the lake outside to just sit in the sunshine for a while. He couldn't remember the last time he'd just sat in the sun and felt happy, without any worries, but he felt like doing it right now.

He sat under his favourite tree, just sitting there, reading the letter over and over. Happy for the first time in a long, long time.

Willow sat at the same lunch table every day, the one in the very back corner of the lunch room, farthest from the door. She was surrounded by people from the drama club. Amy, with her bright purple hair; Tommy with his composition book open to a fresh page, scribbling furiously about the play he was writing; Lisa, who was talking animatedly to Jan about the upcoming fall play tryouts; and Jenna, her sister, talking and laughing with everyone but her.

But Willow didn't care that no one was really paying attention to her today, because she had a secret, and just thinking about him made her smile a little as she ate her slice of the school's greasy pizza. Then her mind drifted over to his owl. She was so beautiful, there was just something about her that made you stop and stare in wonder.

She was still thinking about Draco and Selena when she was finished with her lunch. She got up to put away her lunch tray, and when she glanced back at the table, just briefly, she saw Jenna looking at her. Willow smiled at her, a big smile, like she didn't have a care in the world, and went outside for the rest of the lunch period.

She sat under her favourite tree on the corner of the building, and just read and re-read the letter, written on that weird, heavy paper, in that beautiful handwriting. She smiled as she imagined his face when he read her letter, possibly just as happy as she was right now.

Then the school bell rang and pulled her out of her thoughts. She folded up the letter and put it in her pocket as she walked back inside the building for her afternoon classes. Somehow, she knew she wasn't going to be able to concentrate very well.

**Here's one more reminder . . . Please please please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**[A/N: This chapter is, like, three weeks after ch. 2. By the way. I didn't come out and say this in the fic, but many letters have been exchanged at this point and they're coming to rely on each other to talk to.]**

**Disclaimer: Do I own Harry Potter? Let me check . . . Nope. Not even a little bit. JKR has that honor.**

Willow

Ch. 3, edit 2

_Draco,_

_This is my mp3 player, my parents won't get me an iPod. You just hold down the button on top for three seconds to turn it on._

_You may be wondering why I'm sending this to you. There's a song on it I want you to listen to. It's called "The First of Me" by Hoobastank. I heard it and it reminded me of our conversation at Maggie's, well, sort of. Anyway, listen to it, and any other songs that catch your eye, and then send it back to me. I might be able to figure out how to put your favourites on a disc, so send me a list of those, too._

_Your first non-boarding school friend,_

_Willow_

Draco took the letter with him to the library after lunch to look up the Muggle words. As he walked in, he glanced around the room. He didn't see anyone he knew. He headed into the shelves, not noticing a certain frizzy-haired witch look up from her books in a darkened corner. He managed to find his way to the Muggle Studies section without having to ask Madam Pince and for that he was grateful. If the old bird knew that he was looking up Muggle things it could cause some unwanted attention. Especially since he didn't actually take Muggle Studies.

He found a book on "technology" that looked like it'd been published fairly recently, say, within the last few years. He sat on the floor, right there in between the towering aisles of books and crossed his legs so he could look up "mp3 player," "iPod," and "disc."

He learned that an mp3 player is a device that Muggles use to store music so they can listen to it whenever they want. An "iPod" is a specific brand of one of these devices, the only difference being that on an "iPod" you can also "download" games and things. A "disc" was a circular device that stored music as well and you needed a "computer" or a "CD player", whatever that was, to listen to the music on a "disc." Discs were much less expensive than mp3 players.

Unbeknownst to him, as he was sitting there studying Muggles, something he'd never thought he would have to do, that certain frizzy-haired witch was peering through a hole in the books behind him.

**LATER THAT NIGHT**

Draco was up a tree, literally. He'd found that when he wanted to be alone at Hogwarts, completely alone, where no one would find him, he should hide up in a tree. Because people rarely, if ever, look up.

He put in the ear buds that had come with the mp3 player, and turned it on. He spent a half an hour scrolling through the different options. Overall, he found it was easier to use the more he studied it. Finally, he found the artist called "Hoobastank" - silly name, he thought - and their song "The First of Me."

He pushed play and laid his head back against the trunk of the tree, closing his eyes.

_I must make a choice_

_A tough decision_

_Listen to my voice_

_Should I give in _

_To temptation_

_Admiration_

_One leads to myself_

_The other someone else_

_Just an empty shell_

_Just an empty shell_

_It's harder than it seems_

_When you're told that_

_All your hopes and dreams_

_Are yours to hold if_

_You just give them_

_What's expected_

_Something they can sell_

_Put upon a shelf_

_But I am not for sale_

_I am not for sale_

_I hear a voice inside_

_It's grown into a scream_

_I'm not the next of them_

_I am the first of me_

_'Cause I can't live the lie_

_I am just what you see_

_I'm not the next of them_

_I am the first of me_

**IN GRYFFINDOR TOWER**

"You saw Malfoy?" Ron asked Hermione incredulously. "In the library?" They were sitting together in a corner of the common room. Hermione had a thick Arithmancy book open in front of her, Harry was making plans for the DA in a special notebook that Hermione had charmed for him, so that no one could read it but him, and Ron was trying to figure out a way to sneak a look at Hermione's finished Potions essay, because he had no idea what to write. "Well, I guess that disproves my theory that he's an idiot who can't read." He made a pouty face. Oh, how Hermione loved that face! Ron could never tell, but sometimes, when she knew he wasn't looking, Hermione would just stare at him instead of doing her homework (one of the reasons she was always up later than either Harry or Ron.)

"Ron," Hermione snapped. "You're not listening. He was in the _Muggle_ Studies section."

Harry and Ron both looked at her blankly.

Hermione sighed.

"He doesn't take Muggle Studies." She said exasperated. "He's not in the class!"

Ron looked at her, surprised.

"How d'you know that? You don't take Muggle Studies anymore." he said.

"I know Ron, because I asked. I wanted to know who was still taking it. Besides, Malfoy wasn't taking it in third year."

Harry leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed.

"Did you see what he was reading?"

"No." Hermione said, disappointed.

"Well," Harry said. "We may not know why, but we do know one thing." he looked around at Ron and Hermione. "Malfoy's hiding something and I think now would be a great time to keep an eye on him and break out the Marauders' Map."

**THE NEXT DAY**

_Willow,_

_I loved the song. Don't bother trying to figure out how to copy it to a disc; I copied it in my own way. Students aren't allowed to use much technology here._

_The teachers are just piling on the homework this year, because there's a really big test coming at the end of the year._

_There's this girl in my year, Pansy, who's somehow gotten it into her head that I like her and that I want to go out with her. She won't take no for an answer and keeps hanging on my arm. It's getting __really__ annoying._

_So, how's life with you? Weren't the auditions for the autumn play last week? I think you mentioned it once or twice . . . maybe a million times. How'd they go? Does the list come out soon? _

_Your first non-drama friend,_

_Draco_

Draco finished his letter to Willow early Monday morning, and hurried out of the Slytherin common room to send it.

It was a long way from the dungeons to the Owlery, but strangely, Draco met no one on his trip.

When he walked in, he was instantly assailed with the smell of owl droppings and he wrinkled his nose a little, and then remembering that that was undignified and just decided not to breathe through his nose while he was up there.

He sent Selena off, confident she'd find Willow before she went off to her Muggle school. He stood there for a minute, just admiring the view of the surrounding mountains and the lake. He was about to leave when he heard someone coming up the stairs. He cursed under his breath, he didn't want to be seen up here, didn't want to have to lie about who he'd been writing to.

He shrank back into a shadowy corner, behind one of the wooden perches, and waited.

In burst Harry Potter, Draco instinctively shrank back into the shadows when he saw Harry. He was the last person Draco wanted to see. Ever. All he ever got from Harry were dirty looks. Harry sent off a letter quickly, like he was rushed, and then he ran into Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker. Draco watched as Harry tried to be romantic or something, almost chuckling to himself before he remembered that he was hiding.

Then, Filch came in. Filch! Honestly, it was getting rather crowded up there. Draco was sure he was about to get caught. But no, Filch just confronted Potter about Dungbombs.

_Ha,_ Draco scoffed, _Like perfect Potter would ever do that. He's probably never dropped a Dungbomb in his life!_

Cho Chang defended Potter, and when the three of them left, Draco gave a sigh of relief.

He waited five minutes for them to get far enough away, then he made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast, suddenly realising how hungry he was.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Soo, here's ch. 4 . . . thanks to all the people who reviewed and all that, you guys made my day!**

**Disclaimer: Yes, it is mine, all mine! Muahahahahahahaha! *JKR's lawyers come out and glare* Ok, no it's not . . . not now not ever. :(**

**Oh yeah, and thanks to april93 (aka my epically awesome beta who puts up with my weirdness). I 3 you forever!  
**

The First of Me

Chapter 4

Later that day, Draco was sitting in the Slytherin common room, trying to work on a Potions essay in the dim greenish light. He finished a sentence, then put his quill down on the table in front of him and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes for a minute. While he was sitting there with his eyes closed, he heard the door to the common room open, and three very loud, very obnoxious Slytherins come in. He could recognize them all by their voices.

The annoying, almost nasally voice was Pansy Parkinson.

The loud guffaw was Vincent Crabbe.

And the quiet snigger that you almost missed was Gregory Goyle.

And they were coming toward him.

"Come on, Draco, stop working!" Pansy said, as she sat on his lap. "I have info that that blood traitor, Weasley, is on the Gryffindor Quidditch team now. And his very first practice with the team," she paused for effect, "is today."

She smiled at him triumphantly.

"It starts in fifteen minutes; it'll take that long to get out there before the Gryffindors get on the field." Crabbe said. Pansy's head whipped around and she gave Crabbe one of her infamous looks.. Draco could tell that she'd wanted to tell him everything, make him think that she was the smart one out of the three.

"Come on, Draco, please?" Pansy pleaded. She pulled him up out of the chair by his arm. "It'll be fun!"

"But, Pansy, my father will kill me if I don't get higher grades than the Mudblood this year!" Draco protested, wincing inside at having to use that word, the word he'd sworn never to use again after meeting Willow, as Pansy pulled him toward the door.

"Oh, please. That essay you were working on isn't due for another three days, Draco! You're coming with us!"

Recognizing his defeat, Draco went.

"Alright, but I'm not shouting out at them. I'm saving my voice."

"Oh, I don't know, Draco," Pansy said, smirking at him. How dare she smirk at him! He'd taught her how to do that! "I think you might find the motivation."

Fifteen minutes later, he was down at the Quidditch pitch, in the stands, sitting between Pansy and Crabbe, while they waited for the Gryffindor team to come out of the locker room. Draco decided that he would sit there trying to look aloof and distant. He knew Willow wouldn't approve if he started yelling at the team. He'd been trying not to look at Potter now, but it was hard, especially when Snape kept drawing attention to his horrible potions in class.

"Oh, they're coming!" Pansy whispered to them, and sure enough, Draco could see their captain, Angelina something, walking out onto the pitch, followed by the rest of the team.

Almost immediately, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle started jeering at them. Then, Potter walked out of the locker room and looked at the stands. The look on his face very clearly said to Draco, "Why do you have to be here and ruin my entire day?"

And Draco snapped. He started jeering with Pansy, who looked at him with a satisfied smirk.

"What's that Weasley's riding?" Draco yelled out.

Willow was on her way to school, her stomach seemed filled with butterflies as she contemplated the thing what lay waiting for her, pinned to the English teacher's door.

The cast list.

Willow only lived down the road from the school, but this morning it seemed like three miles. She'd gotten an extra early start so she could be at school with enough time to see the list. She could almost see the school when she heard a flutter of wings behind her and felt something land on her shoulder. She looked over at Selena, who was looking pleased with herself for having found Willow somewhere other than her house. Selena stuck out her leg and Willow untied the letter. Cast list forgotten, she sat down on the sidewalk, taking a notebook out of her backpack before she opened Draco's letter. She read it quickly, almost too quickly, she had to go back and read some bits again.

Then she grabbed her pen and started writing back.

_Draco,_

_Oh, are you taking the GCSE's this year? I've heard those are really difficult, but good luck! This girl sounds like she needs a good talking to from your resident non-boarding school friend. Of course, I don't know where exactly your school is, so I couldn't really do that, but the intention's nice, right?_

_My life's pretty normal, go to school, do homework, sleep. Oh, and write to you. That's probably the most exciting part of my year so far, writing to someone in boarding school. Haha, I only mentioned it like three times, but yes, auditions were last week. The list comes out today and I'm on my way to school right now. I was actually walking to school when Selena found me. That is one very smart bird you've got there. I think I did pretty well at the audition.. There was a small scene we needed to do with another person, and I'm pretty sure I nailed it. I may be the only one who thinks that, but you know how it goes._

_How's your life? Potter still bugging you? Don't let him. Just be yourself. If you're happy with yourself, nothing else really matters. I'm happy with who you are, you should be too._

_Wish me luck!_

_Willow_

Willow ripped the page out of her perforated notebook, and folded the paper into a little square, which she tied to Selena's leg. She got up as Selena flew away and put her notebook away. As she started walking towards the school again she started thinking about that last time she'd seen Draco, standing on that street corner, looking a little surprised with a hint of a smile on his face, the cast list completely forgotten again.

She got to school ten minutes later, and put her stuff in her locker, the list the first thing on her mind once more. She hurried towards Mrs. Tanner's room, praying that the list was already posted.

She rounded the corner and saw three other people standing around the door, staring at something and she knew. It was up! She hurried forward and pushed through Tanya and Breeta, the fraternal twins, to see it.

Amy, Jill, Lisa, Lindsay, Tanya, Terri, she went down the list of names. There! Willow Turner! She'd made it! She'd done it! Jenna'd made it too, her name was farther down the list, but Willow wasn't a nobody anymore! She'd gotten the part of the main character's best friend, she was in three-fourths of the scenes and she was on top of the world again!

She wanted to tell Draco, but she'd just sent him a letter. She might not get another one for three days, maybe more.

School for the rest of the day was a breeze. She felt good, like anything was possible.

After school, Willow went to the first practice for the play, she got her script and they read through the entire thing. After practice, Willow walked home and tried to concentrate on her homework. It wasn't working. She kept taking out her script and going through her lines in her head, or just looking at it, a smile on her face.

She heard a tap behind her, at her window, and she turned and looked out. It was Selena. Willow didn't know what she'd been expecting, but this really wasn't it. She got up and let Selena in.

"What've you got there, girl?" Willow asked, untying the letter from Selena's leg. Right before she opened it, she got a sense of foreboding; something was telling her that this was a bad letter. She opened it.

_Willow,_

_Oh God, oh dear God, Willow. I slipped. I didn't mean to, but I started yelling insults at Potter and his friends today. After I'd done it, I felt horrible, and now I can't get it off my mind. I thought I could wait to tell you, but I can't. I need to tell someone, and you're the only one who will listen._

_I was in my house common room, doing my homework, when that girl I was telling you about, Pansy, came in and basically dragged me to Potter's sports practice. It was his best friend's first practice on the team, and Pansy thought we could get a few laughs out of it. Because, really, Weasley's not brilliant. I've never seen him play before, but today he was actually really horrible. I wasn't going to say anything. I was just going to sit there, and not say anything, but when Potter came out of their locker rooms and saw me in the stands, he looked me straight in the eyes, and the expression on his face. I couldn't take it._

_And I snapped. I started yelling insults at them with my "friends" and now I feel terrible!_

_I just had to get that out._

_Draco_

Willow stared at the paper in her hand. She sat down on her bed heavily and sighed.

"Oh, Draco," she whispered to the letter. "What have you done?"

Her eyes went blurry, and she felt a wave of disappointment sweep over her. Then she caught herself. She couldn't be disappointed, as far as she knew this was the first really bad thing he'd done in three weeks. She had to be helpful and supportive for Draco, because that was what he needed right now. Not a mother who would lecture and scold him whenever he did something wrong.

She went over to her desk and cleared off all of the homework, leaving just a blank notebook page and a pen on it. Then she sat down and wrote. She wrote from her heart, and at the same time carefully weighed each word as she put it down. This letter had to be perfect.

She sent it off, after giving Selena some water. She watched the owl fly off into the night, and just stood at her window watching the stars long after Selena had disappeared.

Draco woke up the next morning cursing himself for his letter. She probably thought he was a weak fool. He got up and dressed quickly, so the other Slytherins couldn't talk to him, and strode off to breakfast, his mind not really on his stomach, but on the letter, and Willow's reply, which was bound to be coming this morning.

He sat at the far end of the Slytherin table, not really talking to anyone, eating his normal buttered toast and three eggs.

To most of the school, it looked like Draco was just being Draco, but to anyone who knew him well, he looked preoccupied. Blaise, in particular noticed that Draco kept looking up to the windows as if waiting for something.

Minutes later, though it seemed much longer to Draco, the post arrived. Selena flew in, a letter on that strange lined Muggle paper tied around her leg.

Draco untied the letter, and gave Selena the crust of his toast, like he normally did. He slipped the letter inside his Charms book and promised himself he would read it during class, when Blaise wasn't looking.

In class, they were put in pairs by Flitwick and Draco was with a timid Ravenclaw, who kept flinching when she looked at him. He wanted to tell her that she didn't have to be scared of him, but he imagined that would just scare her more. Somehow, in the four previous years of school, he'd become, well, intimidating. People avoided his gaze, they got out of his way in the halls, and if he sat at the opposite end of a library table from someone not in Slytherin, they would get up and move without him saying anything.

It was really starting to get on his nerves.

He let the Ravenclaw try to do the spell, while he read his letter. She didn't try to stop him, to make him focus on the lesson, or even try to read over his shoulder, like Blaise definitely would have.

_Draco,_

_Don't feel bad. I mean, it was a bad thing to do, but everything gets worse before it gets better, right? No one's perfect, not even you. You were bound to slip once, but if that's the only time since I started talking to you, then you should feel really good. It's like the people who are addicted to cigarettes. They have to get better a little bit at a time. Trying to just stop insulting others before they insult you is not something you can do in a few seconds. It's become a habit for you, and habits are dreadfully difficult to break. (I should know, I've been trying to stop biting my nails since I was fourteen) I'm much better at controlling my nail-biting habit, but it still gets me sometimes, like when I'm really nervous._

_And you just have to know, you're not alone going through this. I'm here to help, always. You can count on me. I'm sure that however he looked at you you have the strength inside you to resist shouting out at him. All you have to do now is find it. Find a place you can go inside you to detach from the urge to get to him first. Take your mind away from him, go to happy things, happy places._

_Hope I've helped,_

_Willow._

And just like that, Draco was feeling better. She didn't think of him as weak, or as a fool. She said herself that she thought he was trying his hardest! All the rest of that day, Draco smiled. People in the halls looked at him like he was crazy, or like they were terrified that he'd done something terrible, but somehow, right this second, he didn't care! They could look all they liked, because she made him stronger than their looks.

Then he realized something. And it sort of hit him like the proverbial ton of bricks.

She was his happy place. She was the one who made him strong enough to resist Potter's looks and his classmates' stares. With her was the first place he'd felt truly happy. She was the one who made him forget the prejudices and realities of his life.

And he absolutely loved it.

**What did you think? See that shiny little blue button? The one that says "Review"? Yeah . . . you should tell me what you think by pressing that button and leaving a review! I will be very very very very very grateful, because I want to know what you think!**

**PS, I lost the game. Thank you.  
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	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: Heya, here's Chapter 5. I really like this chapter, it was easy to write, and hard to edit, if you know what i mean. Well, here it is. Do with it what you will.**

**Dis to the Claim: I do not own Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasely or basically anything else that you recognize. (I do take full credit for Willow, though. She is a product of my own imagination!)**

The First of Me

Chapter 5

_Meet me at Maggie's at six o'clock on Saturday night. I want to see you again. Somehow letters aren't the same._

_Willow_

Draco had received the letter on Wednesday morning and the weekend had not come fast enough. After what he'd decided to call the "Weasley Incident," nothing very extreme had happened between him and Potter, although the dark-haired boy had been turning up in the oddest places recently.

On Saturday morning, Draco spent three hours in the library working on his Charms essay, then another three hours working on his Transfiguration homework in the Slytherin common room.

At 5:30, Draco left the common room, wearing a black turtleneck sweater and dark jeans, one of the only Muggle outfits he owned.

He snuck up the dungeon stairs, out the front door, and stopped behind a tree near the front gate, waiting for it to open.

Harry Potter was in the library with Hermione, trying to tempt her into checking over his Potions essay, and keeping one eye on Malfoy on the Marauders' Map.

"I already told you, Harry, you're doing this one by yourself!"

"But, Hermione - " He pleaded.

"No! I'm not going to do your homework for you!"

"Hey!"

"What, Harry? It's not like I haven't told you - "  
"No, Hermione, it's Malfoy. He's disappeared. He used to be in the Slytherin common room and now he's not."

They spent the next ten minutes poring over the map, looking for Malfoy. Harry pointed when they found him.

"Pity Ron's in detention," Hermione muttered moments later. "Because I know what you're going to say now."

Harry looked up, he hadn't heard her.

"Hermione, you need to come with me to follow Malfoy. He's sneaking out. We need to know what's going on, and Ron can't come because he's in detention."

Hermione sighed. There was no arguing with him when he got like this.

"Alright, go get the cloak."

"Yes!" Harry said, bolting out of the library towards the Gryffindor common room.

Twenty minutes later, Harry and Hermione were at the front gate under the cloak, watching Malfoy.

"Why do you think he's sneaking out?" Hermione asked suspiciously. She had a strange feeling Harry was going to build a conspiracy theory around this incident.

"Well, he's got to be going to Hogsmeade, hasn't he? Where else would he sneak out to? I think he's going to meet his father or something . . . Maybe Malfoy's finally done it! Maybe he's joined his father's side!"

"Harry - " Hermione warned.

"The gates are opening, come on," Harry pulled Hermione through the open front gate as Malfoy ran through and hid behind a tree on the other side. Malfoy looked around, then walked down the road, a small smile on his face,

Harry and Hermione followed a ways behind so Malfoy wouldn't hear their footsteps.

Draco was late. It was only three minutes past six, but Willow was still worried.

She was at her table in Maggie's with a glass of water in front of her, glancing over at the door every few seconds.

She looked down at the menu on the table and started tracing the familiar letters with her finger. A bell tinkled as the door opened and Willow's head shot up.

She saw him standing in the doorway uncertainly and smiled. She raised her hand and waved. He smiled when he saw her and started walking towards her.

"Hey," he said, as he sat down across from her. "Sorry I'm late. I had some trouble getting out of school."

"That's okay," Willow said, still smiling. "I'm late all the time. I think tonight's the first time I've been on time in a very long time, if you know what I mean."

"So, what's good here?" Draco asked, looking at the menu. "I only got a hot chocolate last time."

"Oh, um, I personally like the mac & cheese here," (A/N: Is this a British saying too? Im not sure . . . sorta seems like an American thing, if you know what I mean . . . so yeah)

"Okay, I'll get that then." Draco said nodding.

They ordered from Tina and soon after she left Draco got up from his seet.

"I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be right back," he said.

The bell over the door tinkled again, but now Willow did not notice, Draco was already here. She was looking out the window at the steadily darkening, tree-lined street. She didn't look up until she saw a shape moving in the corner of her eye.

A dark haired boy had sat down across from her in the seat Draco had just vacated. He had round glasses and a strange scar on his forehead.

"Hi." he said, smiling.

"Who are you?" Willow asked, a bit rudely.

"Oh, I'm Harry. So, what are you doing here?"

"Meeting a friend, though I don't see why it's any of _your_ business."

"Oh? Does this friend have a name?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"What would you say if I said I knew your friend?"

"Prove it."

"His name is Draco Malfoy, and he goes to boarding school, right?"

"So," Willow said. "I don't see why it matters to you."

"I don't see why you consider him a friend."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Because he treats me like somebody! Happy?"

"No. No, I'm not. He's not a nice guy. He's - I don't know," Willow cut him off.

"Wait," Willow demanded and looked at him with a new light in her eyes. "What did you say your last name was?"

"I didn't," Harry said. "But it's Potter."

"Oh, so you're the infamous 'Potter.'" She said and coolly looked him up and down. "Well, I can see why he doesn't like you."

Harry was taken aback.

"What?"

"You are the reason he is so mean to you! I'm sure you two wouldn't have any problems if _you_ just tried being nice!" Willow noticed Draco walking back over. When he saw who she was sitting with, he frowned. His eyes seemed to go dead.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, Willow barely recognized his voice. It was hostile. A tone he'd never used with her.

Willow got up and grabbed Draco's arm.

"Come on, Draco, we were just leaving. I think the atmosphere in here is getting a bit cold."

As soon as they were out of Potter's earshot, Draco started bombarding Willow with questions.

"What did he ask you? What was he doing here? When did he come in? Have you seen him before?"

"What?" Willow exclaimed. "Draco, be serious. I hadn't even heard of him until I met you!

"Right, yeah," Draco looked down at his feet ashamed. "Sorry," he muttered. "Being stupid."

"Yeah, you were," Willow said bluntly. "But it's to be expected," she grabbed his hand and started leading him across the street. "Come on, let's go to the park."

The park was a wooded area at the top of a hill. It's a large park, with clearings and benches. There's even a playground next to the entrance.

Willow's favourite place in the park was in the very back, farthest from the entrance. There was a small clearing with a large weeping willow right in the middle.

"This is it," Willow said, leading Draco under the tree by the hand. "This is my place."

A full moon hung low overhead, giving everything a soft blue light, even though it was late, Willow could see his face clearly.

_Tale as old as time,_

Willow smiled at Draco

_True as it can be,_

He smiled back, a small, gentle smile.

_Barely even friends,_

_Then somebody bends_

_Unexpectedly._

The words to the song Beauty and the Beast ran through her head, and she found them oddly fitting. She resisted the urge to laugh at her own weirdness.

_Just a little change,_

_Small to say the least,_

They were standing next to each other, leaning against the tree trunk, fingers intertwined. She was looking at him, trying to memorize his face, never wanting to forget this moment.

_Both a little scared,_

_Neither one prepared,_

Tentatively, she turned toward him and leaned forward a little, almost afraid of what she was doing, and kissed him.

She kissed him long and slow and he kissed her back exactly the same way.

They stood there for a long time, just standing in each other's arms.

_Beauty and the Beast._

**Well, what'd you think? I want to know what you thought. You should really click the shiny button at the bottom of the page there. See it? It's all blue and it says "Review".**

**Here's to april93, my epically (if that's even a word) awesome beta who can always find my grammatical errors and plot holes and other such things! Woot woot!**

**PS: What do you think will happen next? Will Draco and Willow fall even more in love? Will Harry and Hermione ruin things for them? Will Willow's school play go well? Read on (when I post it) and find out!**


	6. Author's Note

** Hello, all. . . No, this is not a new chapter, sorry. . . I just wanted to let you all know that I have changed my penname. Just in case you were searching for my old one and couldn't find it . . . it's because it doesn't exist anymore. Sorry. Now, I am called A.. It stands for A Nona Mouse. Get it? Anonymous? Lol? I thought it was funny :) **

** Anyway, I hope to be posting new stuff soon, but the busy-ness of my life and the uninspired streak I've had lately are working against me, so I don't know how long it will be. . . *dives behind a door* Please, please, please, please don't kill me. You need me remember? Without me you won't know the end of the story! *nervous laugh* Guys?**

** *mob of angry readers attacks***


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